A portrait of William Woods, who has been found after nine months being alleged as missing in Vietnam. Photo credit: Nguoi Lao Dong

A British man who was reported missing nine months ago has been found in Vietnam, for most of the period living in Ho Chi Minh City with his girlfriend, a local newspaper reported Wednesday.

William Woods has migrated to Vietnam's southern hub Ho Chi Minh City to live with his girlfriend and it is unclear his father lost his contact during that time, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported.

Earlier, the father Norman Woods who was working at a construction technology company in Hong Kong, asked local police to search for his missing son.

He claimed to having lost contact with his son since late 2013 and fearing that he might have been kidnapped or killed, forcing Hong Kong police to report the case to Interpol.

According to information obtained by Interpol Vietnam, William Edward Woods was born in 1979, graduated from Tower Hamlet College in the UK and has been traveling around the world since 2007.

Norman said his son had traveled around Asia Pacific countries very often since 2007, including Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

Hanoi police, who was requested for coordination by Interpol Vietnam, identified that William entered Vietnam for many times since 2009 and the last time was in August 2013.

Police found that William Edward Woods entered Vietnam through Tay Ninh Province’s Moc Bai Border Gate for the last time on August 21, 2013 and then moved to Hanoi to work as an English teacher at the Cleverlearn Vietnam's headquarters on Van Bao Street in Ba Dinh District.

However, he quit teaching in December 2013 without handing in his notice and allegedly flew to Ho Chi Minh City to meet his girlfriend.

Hanoi police then coordinate with tourism agencies in Hanoi and HCMC after assuming that William would extend his visa that was about to expire.

They managed to contact William last month when he returned to Hanoi to extend his visa and find a job.

On August 7, William met with the police who later sent his photo and information to his father to ensure him about his son’s safety.

The immigration service are dealing with William to supply relevant services and identifying if he had any violations.